Loki – Journey Into Mystery review S1 E5

Journey Into Mystery was such a nutty, bonkers amazing episode of Loki. Gator Loki pretty much ensured that this episode was going to be a winner.

Loki is astonished to meet Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant, The Hitman’s Bodyguard), Boastful Loki (Deobia Oparei, Game of Thrones), Alligator Loki and Kid Loki (Jack Veal). The latter is the Loki boss of all bosses since he actually managed to kill his Thor.

This episode had a bunch of Easter Eggs. Is there any other show we could have gotten the Thanos copter and it just works? Wow.

And just in case that wasn’t enough, we get an honest to goodness cameo from Frog Thor trying to reach Mjolnir. Is Loki the most unpredictably great live-action comic book show ever? It’s certainly vying for that title.

One thing is for certain, they can’t just hang around above ground as Alioth, a cloud-like beast that devours everything that crosses its path. Loki apparently is such a great show that even its smoke monsters don’t suck.

Loki’s chat in the throne room of the Lokis was amazing from the small details like Kid Loki having a Hi-C juice box and the non-reaction shots from Alligator Loki. This was stellar. After his failed pep talk fails to inspire his fellow Lokis, Loki heads out of the bunker to meet President Loki. I love every bit of this show’s weirdness.

True to Loki form, Boastful Loki betrayed the crew, but now President Loki is reneging on the deal just in time for his soldiers to betray him. Gator Loki loses patience and munches off President Loki’s hand and now he can be President Hook Loki.

Sylvie wants to know the scoop on the true identity of the Time Keepers. With Ravonna playing coy, Sylvie takes matters into her own hands and uses the purge stick on herself. It’s OK. The purge stick just sends variant to a void where they can’t cause any more harm. Essentially the purge stick is a giant recycling bin.

Ravonna does seem curious about who’s been pulling the strings, but she’d never admit that to a variant. She does expect Hunter B-15 to fall in line after spending a little time in isolation.

Sylvie gets a way too close meeting with Alioth, but she’s rescued by a pizza delivery car driven by none other than Agent Mobius. The only thing that would have made this better would have been if he arrived on a jet ski. Sylvie thinks she can enchant Alioth to learn who’s controlling it behind the scenes.

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Classic Loki provides a necessary illusion distraction to get Kid, Gator and Suit Loki out of the bunker where they lament their base betraying instincts will always get the best of them. During this conversation, we get another Avengers homage shot from Iron Man, Captain America and Thor’s confrontation.

Loki thinks he’s changed. He doesn’t want to fess up to the others that he’s fallen in love with another of his variants. That would make for some interesting conversations. That’ll have to wait as Sylvie and Mobius arrive. She’s amazed at Loki’s plan to simply try and kill Alioth. Watching it decimate a battleship’s crew gave Loki some second doubts too.

While he’s not sold on her enchanting Alioth plan, Loki does go along with it. Naturally this prompts Sylvie to ask if Loki will betray her. This is such an intriguing subplot as they’re so used to the art of deception the concept of genuinely loving someone has them both terrified.

It’s time for the showdown with the smoke monster. Loki doesn’t want Sylvie’s TemPad and is staying with her to face Alioth so Mobius gets to return to the TVA to start taking them down. Mobius offers a hand, but Loki brings him in for a big hug. It’s a nice moment and one that truly felt earned over just four episodes.

Classic, Gator and Kid Loki head out, but not before Kid Loki gives Loki his dagger. Loki uses it an attempt to distract Alioth long enough for Sylvie to enchant it, but it’s not working. Something grander is needed. Enter Classic Loki who conjures up his version of Asgard. That’s plenty tempting for Alioth, who quickly gets frustrated with eating air. Finally deciphering the source of its frustration, Alioth closes in on Classic Loki who defiantly laughs as it kills him.

Classic Loki’s diversion proved enough as the combined strength of Sylvie and Loki’s enchantment freeze Alioth. Now it’s time to see what’s behind the other side of the curtain.

There’s no post credit scene with this one. That’s something these Disney+ shows need to be more consistent about going forward.

Kevin Feige has said there’s no plans to release any of the Disney+ series on Blu-Ray, but with Loki (and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) it seems like another option would be to release a movie-edit with no episode breaks. Loki in particular would play well in a movie format since it’s one long adventure.

As far as season penultimate episodes go, this was amazing with some genuinely funny moments, tender emotional scenes and plenty of blockbuster style action.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney